Old photos and memories

Ever have those days (weeks?) where you think a lot about the past?  I’ve been doing a lot of that lately.  I think it’s a combination of reasons why.  A couple of weeks ago, I spent some time looking at old pictures and it brought back a lot of memories…of my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, of what is was like for us growing up…

My parents taught us to be kind, they taught us to be curious, and  they taught us to love each other.  They showed us how important family is by including our grandparents in our daily lives and our special events.   The picture above was taken on our front porch right before our gymnastics show (check out those sequins!)  I love the look on my grandma’s face.  Even now it feels like she was proud of us. 

They showed us how important family is by organizing birthday parties and holiday parties.  Everyone would hang out, have dinner, play board games like Trivial Pursuit, and just spend time together. 

They showed us how important family is by telling us family stories, saving family photos, and by making time for each other.  Sure, I have some not-so-great memories from my childhood (don’t we all?)  but overall, I have really positive memories of growing up.

I hope that we are doing that for Zoe, too:  creating traditions, showing her how important family is, and creating lasting memories for her.  It seems like she went from that baby/toddler stage to this little lady in front of us overnight.  Traditions (like putting reindeer food out for Rudolph), family dinners (at our house or Grandma and Grandpa’s), trips to the park or the pool, visits with her birth mom and her family, dance lessons, learning how to ride a bike for the first time…it’s pretty exciting to think that she’ll have her own “old photos'” to look at someday of all of those childhood  memories.  And I’m so grateful that we get to help her make them.